Translucent top coat
by TurboFerret
Summary: Arcee and Knock Out go on minecraft-worthy exploration of the cavernous depths of an old energon mine. The need to survive makes them discover that there is one bot they both hate more than they hate eachother.
1. A tiny earthquake

Holy mother of dragons, I can't believe I am actually writing Transformer ficks now! Oh the horror! On a positive note I just caught up with the latest transformer cartoons and they have improved the graphics a lot since I last saw BeastWars. Hurray for that.

Back to the case at hand. I guess this might not be the most popular pairing, seriously there is a way higher demand for Starscream on Knockout action for all those Top Coat comments ( _You know what I mean_ ) but nah, seemed too obvious to me. So hey, why not moosh together two characters who exchanged two lines at most during the entire series and that was at the End of that series! Booyeah, rock on, unrealistic view and like expectation mode activated!

And also,

Enjoy

* * *

Arcee regained consciousness and noticed that part of her body was covered under rubble, she was leaking energon and in her current state she could not get the boulders off her. She had followed a decepticon signal into an old energon mine and it had caved in on her.

These musings brought her to two realizations. One was that her transmitter was broken and the other was that the decepticon she pursued might have been buried in this mine too. Which was not bad in itself, as long as he was less mobile than her.

She scanned the area more in depth for possible hostile elements. It seemed that this particular part of mine had caved in with her sustaining the burnt of the boulders, there was a little bend in the tunnel behind which she could not see. In vain she tried pulling herself from under the rocks but she felt like her strength was leaving her. She felt woozy out of exhaustion. Her vision swam and then something red entered her line of sight. Through her delirium she thought it was the crimson red of Cliffjumper. She called out to him and the red blur stopped.

-"Afraid not. Looks like those rocks did you in well." Unlike her, he was mobile and unscathed. She blinked again and cursed to herself. It was Knock Out and sure enough he had his energon prod with him.

-"Don't come any closer, I will blast you to peaces!" She tried releasing one of her arms from under the heavy weight of the rocks to prove her point but her feeble attempts were meat with mocking laughter.

-"Keep struggling like this and you will lose all your liquid energon in.." He paused to make a rough estimate with flare. -"…15 clicks?"

Sobered by this observation Arcee stopped. He was a field medic after all and there was no point for him to lie about her current condition. She was fairly aware of it herself.

-"You have not killed me yet, so what do you want with me?" Knockout smiled and knelt so that their faces were close enough for currently dizzy Arcee to see him properly.

-"We are stuck here, Megatron will not rescue me and I lack firepower to blast through this scrap. You, on the other hand, are heavily wounded but have enough firepower to make an opening."

Knock Out was skilled in areas of stunning and subduing the foes rather than outright offence. Which was the reason why he usually teamed up with bulkier tank-type bots. Since he was alone at the moment it seemed like a fair point.

-"Uh, how can I trust you?"

-"What do you have to lose in this situation?"

Arcee groaned, dizziness setting in again. She did notice that the weight that pressed her down became lighter which meant that somebody had set to removing the rubble. She came to her senses when she heard a faint buzzing of the welding bit. It was standard equipment for medics and she assumed that she must have somehow gotten to the base.

-"Uh, Ratchet?"

-"Wrog again." Knock Out stated in sing-song voice but otherwise remained silent. Instinctively Arcee jolted away from the voice before her optics managed focusing.

-"Hey, watch it! I am not done yet."

-"What have you done to me?" She frantically inspected her build for any damages but only saw a couple of freshly welded seams. "Did … did you remove any of my bio-mechs?"

-"Appealing as it may be I need you fully functioning to get out, so maybe some other time."

Arcee tried pointing her guns at him but one of her arms did not manage transforming into a blaster. Something was malfunctioning half way.

-" You sabotaged me!"

-"I was not yet done with that arm. So could you please let me finish patching you up before you leak what remains of your energon?"

-"Why would a decepticon help me?"

-"Well, I assumed this would be great opportunity for me to practice my field work skills." Knockout drawled annoyed.

-"You lie."

-"No, I was being obviously sarcastic. You possess guns that blast rocks and I do not!"

-"What makes you think I will not blast you to pieces here and now?"

-"Well, for one you are an autobot," He let that observation sink in with all the implications that carried. -"Then there is this little fact that I just saved your life and finally, I believe your transmitter is broken and you still have to get out of this place by your own means too."

-"How do you know that?"

-"I figured your friends would have already created a ground bridge for you, if that was not the case, am I right?"

-"Fine." Arcee shuffled closer to Knock Out and extended her faulty arm. He accepted it far more gently than she expected with his pointy fingers and all. He resumed working on welding the cracks shut. Faint buzzing noise from welding tool filled the otherwise uneasy silence that lingered between them. Every now and then sparks would illuminate his features in such a manner that he looked similar Cliffjumper. Disturbed by that random thought she tried pulling away again but Knockout caught her wrist.

-" Not yet, the seam is still fresh. It is too brittle on its own." He rummaged through his emergency medical kit and produced a couple of bottles.

\- " What are those?"

-"A reinforcing sealant and a polish. I am afraid I only carry red and white on me for personal touch-ups but either of them will do in a pinch."

-"I do not need it to be pretty, I just need them to hold." Arcee was annoyed, she did not want to stay with him longer than necessary, Optimus and her team must have been worrying about her. Or even worse – needed her help. This statement did seem to ruffle Knockout the top-coat fanatic.

-"I beg to differ, fresh seams are susceptible to corrosion and may open unless they are given time to cure. Now will you let me finish?"

-"You sound like Ratchet now."

-"Must be an occupational hazard." Knockout mumbled in response and started applying the sealant coat on the freshly welded patch. Then he cured the seams with a medical laser and proceeded to topcoat.

-"I do envy Ratchet. He gets to practice what he was made for. So what will it be – red or white?" He wiggled the two distinctly colored bottles in front of Arcee's unimpressed face.

-"Which one is heat-resistant?"

This made Knockout think a bit.-" I am not sure how hot your cannons get or which kind of top-coat you have but white would absorb less heat in any case."

He finished his touch-ups and then, despite Arcee's protests buffed the repaired areas to a high sheen.

-"All done." He dusted his hands off and collected his supplies. In the meantime Arcee tried out her cannons, they transformed flawlessly. She could not bear the high sheen of her repaired areas though but that would wear off eventually.

-"Wait, was that welding bit a part of your prod?" She pointed out while Knockout was reassembling his weapon.

-"Yes, medical equipment upgraded for combat purposes."

-"You mean you possess no weapons of your own?"

Knocout sighed, he was tired of explaining this over and over again -"I was designed to be a field medic, not a war machine. My tool kit was not meant for combat purposes. Seeing as I am expected to fight now I had to tinker a with what I had."

-"You could always upgrade your current equipment."

Knockout considered that idea preposterous. "Do you know what that does to your aerodynamics? Besides I would have to sacrifice my medic's equipment which is not ideal. I like my rotary blades."

-"Well.." Arcee felt like she had struck a sensitive cord. "Thank you for fixing me up."

-"You.. are welcome." Knockout sounded quite surprised to receive gratitude in exchange for his efforts. "Though, if I had more time I would polish every little crevice in your build." He stated with a strong conviction without realizing how suggestive that sounded. His patient gave him a curious look so he elaborated his statement. -"I appreciate all shapes and sizes when it comes to bots, disregarding affiliation." Apparently he was fully aware of how he sounded and just did not care.

-"T.M.I." Arcee retorted and aimed at the rocks blocking their passage. Rocks and other geological matter flew everywhere but she managed shooting a small opening in the wall of rock. The passage she created was only large enough for her to squeeze through, sensing Knockout's questioning stare she shot a couple more rounds, making the passage larger.

-"There, it would be best if we both left at different times. Otherwise that would raise suspicion."

-"Suspicion for what?"

-"I believe none of us would benefit from this event going public. You least of all."

-"Megatron only bothers if we try usurping his position."

-"How about teaming up with the enemy?"

-"Believe me Starscreem had gotten away with more than that."

-"How do you even know that?"

-"Vehicon channels have the juiciest gossip."

* * *

And this concludes our part one which was far more easy to write than probably the rest of this thing will be.

Toodles!


	2. A transfusion

Hear ye, hear ye! Turbo is back this week with another round of Arcee and KO digging in dirt. The story ideas are flowing fine though I am starting to run out of names of cavernous geological underground formations to describe where it is that they blast/break/fall into next. Oh well, back to dictionary it is then. OR you, dear readers, can contribute in the review section of this chapter. Also 'crack', 'crevice' and 'shaft'(mining shaft) jokes are appreciated. :D

And back to our dirt-diggin' darlings we go.

* * *

They crawled through the opening previously made by Arcee, Knockout had to go first. She had made it clear that there will be no back stabbing on her watch. They managed squeezing through the narrow space only thanks to their smaller build. On the other side they saw a winding tunnel in which light of their floodlights disappeared.

\- "I do not remember seeing this before."

\- "A road is a road!" Knockout had already transformed into his vehicle mode. "Care for a race?"

Arcee hesitated, she had spent most of her life believing that decepticons were all alike – a ruthless and evil enemy with a penchant for destruction. She felt uneasy when encountering something that did not fit her understanding of a decepticon.

\- "Come on, I will give you a head start." Knockout was itching to race, disregarding their state of being enemies.

\- "Why?" Arcee crossed arms on her front-plates.

-"I have never properly raced with an autobot before apart from battle pursuit. Furthermore, weren't you keen on getting out?"

The playful challenge echoed with her long-restrained desire to have fun. Arcee sighed and transformed, putting Sadie up, just in case.

\- "What is that?" Knockout waved his side-view mirror through the hologram.

\- "The absence of driver is more difficult to conceal on this type of vehicle." And with that she took off, leaving Knockout in a cloud of dust. She raced through the rugged tunnel wondering how it had appeared there. She adjusted her side view mirror to see if he was catching up but something was off. The rumble of Knockout's engine was too close for him to be out of sight. She swerved the mirror upwards to see him racing on the ceiling of the tunnel.

\- "Hello." He purred and accelerated just a little bit to change his position in tunnel so that he was in front of Arcee making her decelerate a bit. The tunnel was not wide enough for him to overtake her in any other fashion. "See you at the exit!" He called and sped up and away from his competitor. Seeing the headlights of Arcee disappear out of sight caused him a great deal of satisfaction however the lights of his sensors took away from the fuzzy feeling of victory. Something was not right in this tunnel. The temperature was rising the further he travelled and the atmosphere was becoming increasingly more hostile for them. He stopped, seeing that this probably was not the right way after all. Moments later Arcee's headlights came in sight and she showed no signs of stopping. Was she mad? Knockout transformed. He was not very good at lobbing and Arcee was definitely bigger than any of the lobbing balls he had ever handled but it was crucial that he caught her. He flexed his clawed hands and tried guessing which evasive manoeuvre she might employ.

Just a few moments later Arcee jumped in the air to squeeze through the opening between Knockout's shoulder plate and head he grabbed her out of the air. Arcee was not amused, -"What are you doing? Let go!" she cried while he resorted to pointing the angrily roaring tires away from his finish.

\- "Calm down, aren't your sensors picking up anything?"

Arcee transformed and tapped on the receptor on the side of her head. - "Strange, if I am to trust them right now we are somewhere high above the sea-level which is definitely not true. They must have sustained damage during that cave in. What are your sensors indicating?"

\- "That we should definitely not go that way." He pointed in direction in which they had been heading. "If anything we are moving deeper into the ground and temperatures are borderline hazardous."

\- "Then this tunnel leads to a magmatic chamber!"

Knockout eyed her wearily - "So what are the good news?"

\- "Thus far? None."

This time without any extravagant moves they raced back to the mouth of the tunnel.

\- "That was a waste of energon, we are back where we started!" Knockout growled and rummaged through his inner compartment in search of his buffing equipment. Arcee in the meantime examined another caved-in part of the cavern.

\- "Knockout! Please shine your headlights here!" That got her the response she needed faster than anything else. Without a word of complaint, she had all the floodlights she needed if not more. 'Please' was indeed a magic word whenever Knockout was concerned. – "Half this strength is plenty, save your energon!" She continued her inspection and a short while after she heard the buzzing of the rotary buffer behind her. – "Is that really necessary now?"

\- "It helps me relax."

\- "Cut it out, it is distracting."

\- "Just a minute… Done!" Knockout sounded in a better mood already.

Arcee wiggled a loose stone and quickly jumped back as an avalanche of rubble followed, releasing a cloud of dust. She could not help but smirk when she saw Knockout shudder as the fine particles settled on his freshly-polished build.

\- "What is the matter? You look mortified." She threw over her shoulder as she went to examine the newly opened passage. Out of the corner of her eye she saw him flip her off.

This little avalanche triggered a buzzing sound that came from beyond the wall of rocks. A buzzing not dissimilar to insecticons.

\- "Scrap!" Arcee hid behind a large boulder only to discover that Knockout was hiding there as well. "What are you doing here?" Just moments later the wall of rock exploded from within having been displaced by a particularly bulky insecticon.

\- "What does it look like to you?" Knockout whispered angrily regarding Arcee's previous comment.

\- "Aren't they supposed to be on your team?"

\- "Half the time they themselves do not know who's team they are on and today I am not willing to find out."

They both became silent the instant they heard the familiar insecticon wail. Being slightly taller than Arcee Knockout peeked over the rim of the boulder.

\- "How many?" Arcee mouthed at him when he looked down. He held up 1 digit in response but lingered to see if any more were joining him. To Arcee's horror 2 more digits joined the equation and currently 3 very active insecticons were wandering in the area newly-opened for them.

\- "We cannot stay here; they will find us!" Having faced off against an insecticon sentry before, Arcee knew they had a good sense of smell.

\- "Ok, warrior class, what do you suggest?"

\- "You distract them!"

\- "What?!" Knockout was about to protest more but he saw Arcee's optics focus on a space behind him and widen in horror. Knockout got the gist, inhaled and turned around flaunting his most brazen expression. After all, insecticons were initially programmed to not harm decepticons on sight or at least he hoped that these were.

\- "I beg your pardon but would you Mind not grovelling over my shoulder while I interrogate a war criminal?"

The insecticon retreated slightly from encountering a face-full of irritated Knockout, however that effect did not last long. The creature's visor glowed and it opened its mouth, small splatters of saliva ended up on Knockout's headlights. The problem with insecticons was that one could never gauge from their facial expressions if they were having a nice day or planning to rip one's face off. On certain occasions both these sentiments converged and he feared this was the case at hand. Knockout felt something happening on his back and he mentally shuddered imagining all the body work he would need to do if he escaped this place in one piece. The insecticon lunged at him but Arcee was faster, she had climbed up Knockout's back unnoticed, extended her cannons on both sides of his head and fired two rounds straight into the gaping maw of the insect.

Knockout rubbed his audio receptors as the bot fell lifeless in front of him. Unfortunately, the two remaining insecticons now were heading their way at full speed and their visors were focused on him. -" Breakdown help me..." he muttered to himself. To his benefit Arcee sprang into action and took attention of one of the bots. The other insecticon still was steadily stalking towards Knockout. He was now faced with two options, to drive or to stay and fight. Arcee had a chance surviving the encounter, himself – no way he could survive a standoff against one, not to speak of two of those beasts. He transformed into his vehicle mode, some fights were not worth winning. He revved his engine letting Arcee know what he was up to, he made one loop around the cavern with galloping insecticon at his back and called out to Arcee. – "Hop on!"

He did not have to ask twice but he cringed when he heard the crunch of Arcee's feet digging into his roof and hood. – "What is your plan?"

\- "I keep them at safe distance, you shoot them down."

\- "Suits me."

And they sped into the newly opened area with Arcee stationed on Knockout's roof. It seemed like a continuation of the lava tunnel they had raced through before but now hopefully they were headed away from the chamber of certain death. It did not take insecticons long to continue pursuit on wing. Arcee aimed at the ceiling of the tunnel above them to let the boulders do the bludgeoning. One bot went down caught by the rubble but the remaining one was relentless.

\- "I hate to say this but I see the end of the tunnel and it is a dead end." Knockout piped to his passenger.

\- "Can you do your driving on the ceiling trick again?"

Knockout swerved around. – "Can't – too rocky but I can give you some speed."

Knockout turned around and sped up towards their pursuer. Arcee leapt at the insecticon brandishing her blades. She managed tackling it through sheer force of velocity which gave Knockout time to transform and sneak behind the bot with his energon prod in hand.

\- "Clear back!" He called, not wanting to tase Arcee in the process. She saw rather than heard what it was he wanted to do and jumped back. Knockout jammed his prod into the back of the insecticon's neck. The bot shuddered but did not seem to be affected in any other way apart from getting angrier. It turned around to assault Knockout instead. Arcee had gotten to a safe distance to shoot and opened fire, Knockout ducked just in time.

-"Arcee! I am not the tank you think I am!" He called out with a raising level of urgency as the insect lashed out at him.

Despite Arcee's attempts to dissuade it, the bot seemed to hold a certain fixation on the medic. Knockout kept blocking the attacks of the insecticon with his prod but his adversary, being resistant to shocks, got a hold of the weapon and yanked it clear out of Knockouts' hands.

Empty handed Knockout had no other choice but to lash with his claws, leaving deep gashes and a couple neatly cut energon ducts. An almost comical spray of energon splashed over his face from the severed duct temporarily blinding him. He blinked and covered awaiting more onslaught but none came and moments later the insect hit the floor. He picked up his prod and poked the cadaver with it. It did not move, good, it was then that Knockout decided it was a good time to start fussing.

-" My boart-tipped nails! I just had them done!"

(A/N Bort or boart here refers to shards of non-gem-grade/quality diamonds used in heavy industries for drill bits and rotary blades. Yes, he has gems on his nails, sue him.)

Arcee was unable to decide whether she was frustrated about him not having used those before or relieved that their opponent was dead. Knockout started picking at his digits to remove any residual bits of metal and energon. -" You would not have a file handy would you?" He received no answer so he waited a moment and then turned to Arcee to reprimand her for being rude. However, he saw the Autobot wobble and lean against the wall. He swiftly approached her and guided her to sit down. Then he scanned her frame for damage.

\- "Your energon levels are low. Since we do not have emergency energon provisions transfusion would be the best option." He muttered after assessing the results.

\- "Who from?" Arcee retorted annoyed by the fact that the decepticon ignored the obvious absence of possible donors.

\- "I have a couple of ideas." Knockout eyed the two bodies of the insecticons laying in the dust.

\- "Are you mad?! I am not having that stuff in my body!" Arcee immediately regretted saying this as her head started ringing again.

-"It is either them or me. I did not assume that you were fine with the latter option."

He was right, neither possibility was appealing to Arcee but Knockout at least was of similar build. - "Are You OK with that?" She asked back.

\- "Energon is energon, no matter where it flows." He shrugged.

The autobot rubbed her head, her vision was doubling and she understood that the medic could easily trick her and instead inject her with something lethal. Then again, without the transfusion she would not last long either. - "Fine, do it."

Knockout produced a syringe and unceremoniously plugged it into his arm port. Arcee watched sparkling blue liquid fill the canister in silent horror.

– "Ready?" Knockout approached her with the same detached expression. She nodded and presented her arm. It felt strange to have energon from a decepticon coursing through her system. Though the sensation was more in her mind than in her body. She expected it to feel different for some reason but in the end energon was energon after all.

While she was recuperating Knockout headed towards the bodies of the insecticons. Their spark compartments were still warm which meant that the energon had not yet started crystallizing in their bodies. Perfect opportunity to collect research samples.

\- "Must you desecrate their bodies?" Arcee muttered while she observed Knockout's actions with level-headed disgust.

\- "They are dead; they do not care." Knockout finished collecting the samples from the both bots. Their energon looked visually different from that of a common bot and that fascinated the medic. - "The live ones would not let me take samples."

-" And their brethren would not object if they found out?"

-" Really?" He put his hands on his hips indignantly. - "After what they did today I really worry about undermining my relationship with them." He stated in a tart manner.

-" Fair enough." Arcee agreed, murderous intent was hard to top.

Knockout put away the samples in his interior compartment and turned his attention to the autobot. -" How is your vision? Still blurry?"

Arcee marveled how Knockout knew about it but then again, he had to be aware of the symptoms of energon loss -" It is better. I should be good to go soon."

In the meantime, Knockout had managed locating a small rotary file and started touching up his nails. They might come in handy once more before they dull completely.

-" Is that standard equipment?"

-" Oh this little something?" He wiggled his fingers in a fashion that made light bounce off the sharp edges. -" Extremely useful for doing surgery which requires high precision and maneuverability."

-" You perform such kind of surgeries with your bare hands?!"

Knockout rolled his eyes -" The equipment lacks a sense of touch to it. For example, joining the fragile sensory conduits when reattaching a severed limb requires a certain level of finesse some tools are incapable of providing." He lifted a tiny grain of sand between the tips of his claws to emphasize the point.

Arcee had lost him at "sensory conduits" but made a mental note to stay away from his "touchy" hands.

-" Have you considered adding them to your list of medical equipment turned weapon?"

-" Na, too finicky. These loose edge too fast in hand to hand combat. Which is why I prefer avoiding that." He shrugged

* * *

KO - Touchy hands, touchy haaands!

Arcee - I am highly skeptical about your qualifications, Doctor.

KO - What do You know? Can you attach an arm? Huh, huh?

Arcee - Ratched developed Synth-En, saved Boulderhead,..

Bulkhead - That's Bulkhead! I thought you Cared Arcee! *goes to sob in the corner*

Arcee - Yeah, no one cares, anyways, ... saved Bumblebee, stood up against an army of undead bots, shall I continue?"

KO - For the record, he did not develop Synth-En, he just completed an existing formula part of which he already had. Also, he is nowhere as handsome as I.

Arcee, Bulkhead, Smokescreen - Well...

KO pointing at Smokescreen - What is he doing here?! Breakown!

Breakdown - Yes?

KO - Ruin his paint job NOW!

So yeah, I wanted to portray KO as a bot who knows his limits when it comes to combat because he is not a damn combat robot. :D


	3. Little talks

I honestly do not know where the relationship part of this story is going. But hey, it is fun to see the story take its own course without pushing it. I updated the title and description because of this. But hey this chapter will have funnies, and saddies and, most importantly, KO making a total slut of himself.

KO - "Hey, easy on slut-shaming!"

Turbo - "I never said it was a bad thing."

Arcee - "What are you two talking about?"

KO - "That was my flashback, I'd rather keep That private. It would damage my professional image."

Turbo -"Considering that anyone can read this I think the damage is already there."

Arcee - "I think damage was there even before you posted this."

KO, looking at the contents of the chapter - "Well, now that you mention it, that is a seriously diluted description of what Really happened, Turbo. On that note, what's with the song verse? Are you making this into some sort of songfick?

Turbo -"Yeah, about that. No, I am not."

KO - "I can not believe you watered down MY scene with Breakdown in exchange for That."

Arcee - "Why are you not elaborating on Cliffjumper and me?"

Turbo - "Sorry doll, but you two are already over-elaborated in the series."

KO -"Yeah, Cee, you get the most of the screen time in the shows anyways, back down sistah!"

Breakdown *shudders* -"Knockout, where did you pick up that speech manner?"

KO -"Netflix."

Turbo - "Anyways people, back to the story. Chop, chop!"

* * *

For a moment they sat there, calming down their conduits. Knockout slumped next to the still recuperating Arcee and chuckled.

-"What's so funny?"

-"This." He gestured towards the carnage around them.

-"May I ask a personal question?" Arcee asked since they had a semblance of truce between them in face of current situation. Knockout made a small noise that conveyed curiosity on his part. –"You are not a fighting class, what are you even doing on the field?"

-"I ask myself the same. I was wrong in assuming being a medic somehow would help me to pull through the war."

-"Then why did you decide to join the decepticon cause?"

Knockout shrugged. –"I did not join it, rather I never bothered looking for something else. Back before the great war decepticons were already advancing with technology faster than autobots. I just followed where I could gain the best training for my field and it happened to be in Kaon at that time. Later after the first shots were fired most of the medics would or could not leave…and some disappeared in a mysterious fashion. I decided to play it safe, after all, being a medic meant saving sparks, not extinguishing them so I thought I could pick up my previous life easier after the war was over regardless which side won."

-"So you are not from Kaon."

-"No, I am from a smaller town in the Equatorial province - Boron."

-"I have never heard of it."

-"It was in an energon mining town."

-"Was?"

-"Got blown up. "

Arcee remembered now it was one of the few civilian mines which was accidentally raided by autobots.

-"I am so sorry for this."

-"No need, I have lost the count of how many autobots I dissected for each spark lost in that accident."

That served to settle an awkward silence between them. They looked around but were too exhausted to move for time being.

-"Knock, knock." Knockout quipped to break the ominous silence.

-"What?"

-"It is a joke I picked up from humans. You have to say 'who's there'."

-"You want to tell jokes Now?"

-"Just, indulge me, will you?"

Arcee was not going anywhere yet and making him babble may deter him from thinking of anything malicious. –"Ok, who's there."

-"Doctor."

-"Doctor who?"

-"Doctor Knockout."

Arcee blew a raspberry. –"That was not funny. Let me try. Knock, knock."

-"Who's there?"

-"R.U.C." She observed Knockout's puzzled expression.

-"R.U.C . who?"

-"Are you serious?"

Knockout chuckled –"Another one?"

Arcee hummed –"I was thinking, the tunnel is a dead end but the insecticons had somehow managed getting here. I am quite sure they did not teleport in so how did they end up here?"

-"They might have gotten caved in just like us."

-"Yes, but where from?"

-"A handful might have remained after Airachnid." He could hear Arcee's engine growl and apologized for bringing that up. "Sore spot, I get it."

-"How can you possibly get that? And it is not just a 'sore spot'. It is not superficial like your top coat scratches!" Arcee snapped. Knockout was not familiar with the details of the past Arcee and Airachnid shared but he knew enough to assume it was traumatic.

-"I do get it. She eviscerated Breakdown. And you know what the irony is? He was into that eight-legged nightmare."

-"But why?" Arcee was genuinely perplexed about how anyone could like her foe in any other way but dead.

-"He… was different." His face turned placid. He vividly remembered the day he and Breakdown met. He was in his final traineeship cycle to become a medic and he had returned to retrieve his welding bit from the work desk only to discover that for some reason all desks were set to the highest setting and he could not reach them. He groaned and felt for an adjustment switch when he felt somebody grab him and lift him up.

-"Hey! Watch it!" He looked over shoulder to give his piece of mind to whoever thought it had been a good idea to touch him without permission.

The first thought of having seen Breakdown was that he had very handsome features...which rested on a very heavily built everything else. Knockout observed him calmly, his red optics sharp with curiosity. –"What do you think you are doing?"

Breakdown seemed just as fascinated by the bot, he had lovely red lines on the small of his back and back of his neck which currently seemed to pulsate and noted almost to himself -"Aren't you a pretty little thing. "

Knockout raised his eyebrow and then made his expression suave, sexy even. -" Why thank you for noticing and…" his hand transformed into rotary blade. "…call me 'thing' again and I'll dissect you." Not having anticipated such ferocity Breakdown promptly released the red mech and Knockout landed on the floor.

His rotary blades were still running and Breakdown realised that he better come up with a good reason for his behaviour. He smiled uneasily and quickly apologized, explaining that he was from the nursing department and was looking for a doctor trainee to team up with.

Knockout gave him a once-over. "You are a bit large for a standard nurse position. I assume all other doctors were already taken?" He put his blade away.

Breakdown looked at the floor, having heard his size and career choice put into doubt too many times. –"Yeah, that is what they told me."

-"Well then," Knockout gave him a look which was amicable if slightly high-handed. "-luckily in my case you are exactly what I need. Nurse…"

-"Actually it's Breakdown."

-"Alright, Breakdown, since we will be kicked out of here soon. Let us grab some energon and you tell me more about yourself."

That night they had a casual fling. The chemistry happened as they both sat in the trainee quarters and shared their reasons for becoming healthcare units over their energon provision cubes. Breakdown revealed that he used to be a wrecker before he decided that a career change was in order. Knockout had teased him on being clumsy, which was in most part induced by the proximity of the red mech. However Breakdown proved being very skilful with his hands later that night.

When energon had been consumed and it was becoming late they were heading to their recharge stations and the medic invited his new assistant to come to his place. Breakdown had felt a bit hesitant since they were supposed to be partners in training and their one-night escapade might complicate things along the way. However the smaller mech reached up to grab his chin and asked for a direct "yes or no" answer and Breakdown could not refuse.

In his career the wrecker had experienced a lot but in this instance he was fully and surely captivated by something else but brute force. He slid his hands down the red medic's back, tracing the faintly glowing red markings, eliciting a purr. Knockout was charmed by Breakdown's golden eyes; they were not common among decepticons and he adored them. What he adored even more was what Breakdown did to his nether regions, he could not remember having a partner this considerate when things got serious. His new assistant even expressed concern that due to their different build models they might somehow be incompatible and he would hurt the medic if they proceeded. In all honesty by that point Knockout could not have cared less for the incompatibility on his part. To his relief Breakdown took the cue and continued as he had originally intended.

Airy gasps filled the room as Knockout arched against the larger bot and shuddered as he reached completion. Breakdown lightly stroked Knockout's helm as he finished, slipping into recharge mode with the red bot still in his arms. Knockout shifted a bit but otherwise decided not to complain about the constricted position, it was not often that he felt safe enough to stay like this until the morning. He looked at the time sensor, there was still a bit left before they had to be back at the training facility. He glanced at the only window of their small quarters to make sure it was still dark and snorted softly when he noticed that it was covered in condensate.

Months later Breakdown walked along the tall isle of medical record slabs with Knockout perched on his shoulder. His wide shoulder panels provided ample space for Knockout to put is undercarriage while he sifted through the higher shelves in search of useful information on cortical patches.

-"I can't carry you everywhere you know?" Breakdown laughed softly.

-"Not my fault, you started it."

Knockout smiled at this memory and added to his conversation with Arcee "If I had managed finding the right fibre optics for him he might have stood a chance. That rudimentary motion sensor patch did not offer great depth perception, not like one's own optics."

-"So it was not just for keeping dust out?" Arcee desperately wished they could return to the silly 'Knock-knock' jokes rather than discuss this.

Knockout shook his head. A robotic optic was still something he found difficult to recreate from scratch -"Breakdown did not complain, he did not want me to feel bad for not being able to do better."

-"Believe me, Ratchet often feels the same, I think it is common for medics to feel that way." Arcee felt strange for comforting a decepticon.

Knockout's shoulder-plates shuddered, it seemed like he could not have shared his thoughts with anyone else up until that point. Decepticons were not known to cater to emotional needs of their troupes – not with Megatron in charge anyway. Arcee felt like she could not stand more of this conversation without getting overwhelmed herself. She could not afford that, not in front of an enemy. But she could offer a bit of empathy which doubtlessly was scarce in decepticon world. She gently placed a hand on Knockout's shoulder and squeezed slightly. -"You did not fail him, it was not your fault." She said for the benefit of them both. "And I…I am sorry, I did not know. She…" Arcee contemplated whether or not to share that bit of her past and chose in favour of doing so. "She tortured and killed someone I cared about before my eyes."

Knockout looked at Arcee in a fashion he had never regarded her. As someone who carried scars inflicted by the same entity. Tentatively he extended his arm waiting for Arcee to recoil but she did not, so he wound it around her shoulders and embraced her awkwardly. There was nothing awkward about his intention but he was not sure how Arcee felt about bodily proximity. Nevertheless it had felt somehow right to him - in this instance they shared a bond which prevailed over their factions. Alliances became irrelevant in face of a loss.

-"I will terminate her one day." Her frame shook slightly as she squeezed her hand into a fist and lightly hit it against Knockout's shoulder plates.

Knockout reacted to Arcee's gesture with wide-eyed surprise that hardened into determination. -"I am sure you will." Yet Arcee did not let the emotion linger lest it sabotage her pursuits.

-"We should be going now." She retreated from their embrace and turned around to conceal her face.

-"Arcee..." He paused to let her compose herself. -"When this war is over, if you, I and Airachnid are still on line, I want to be by your side when you take her out." Arcee turned around to see that he had extended his hand towards her in a manner of a handshake. She looked at the extended limb with a sense of doubt for a moment and then extended her arm in turn to complete their promise.

-"Till all are one." She said, her optics shining with determination.

-"Till all are one."

 _You're gone, gone, gone away,  
I watched you disappear  
All that's left is a ghost of you  
Now we're torn, torn, torn apart,  
there's nothing we can do,  
Just let me go, we'll meet again soon_

 _Now wait, wait, wait for me, please hang around  
I'll see you when I fall asleep_

"Little talks" [Of Monsters And Men]

A/N: 'Till all are one' - is a phrase from the Transformes universe, which can mean either until the end of the Great War, when all Transformers shed their factional affiliations, or until all are rejoined into the Allspark of Primus. In this instance I used it as something they both could swear upon disregarding the customs of the affiliation. Because I like to color within the lines when it suits me.

* * *

If you read anything at the intro header you already know, but who am I kidding? Who reads those? I felt the song text resonated with the rest of the theme. BUT I usually hate scrolling through song texts which mean nothing to me personally to get to the text of the actual fick in other people's work. To compromise I decided to put this one bit in the end so feel free to skip it. ;) Oh noes, you already read this far? Well, in case this happens again you know what to do ;).


	4. Lionheart

Soo, here goes once more. And if you were wondering if Knock Out and Arcee were still digging, I assure you they are.

KO - WHAT?! You _Promised_ that we would get out!

Turbo - I do not remember promising that

Arcee holds up a pickaxe to KO - I do not see what You are so upset about, I am doing all the digging anyway...

KO - That would have been unnecessary if Turbo just teleported me, I mean us out of there.

Starscream - Who will repair my broken arm?

Soundwave - [...]

Turbo - Yeah Soundwave, you tell Them!

* * *

Arcee set to the gruelling task of inspecting yet another cavern. It was boring, dull and seemed to always end in more trouble than it was worth. On a more personal level a seam on one of her freshly patched blasters was dangerously close to opening again but she was amazed how she had not sustained more damage during the skirmish. If anything now she had a battle scar of her own to brag about to Bulkhead and Miko, that is, if it ever came to that. She liked playing it off cool for the most part.

Something moved in her peripheral vision and she whipped around, blasters at the ready to realize it had been just a shifting shadow. They did not have as many light sources now. One of Knockouts headlights had been damaged during the fight and she was concerned with sparing her remaining energon, thus her headlights were dimmer than she would have usually preferred -"Anything?" She called out, being unnerved by the echo of her own voice.

Knockout made a non-descript sound while he scanned the walls in search of any structural inconsistencies, putting his bets on Arcee's firepower. However, if he had to be perfectly honest he had another agenda in mind. From their conversations he gathered that the autobot assumed he was on the energon scouting mission, in an abandoned mine, a mine abandoned by decepticons… who were notorious for strip—mining energon until there was nothing left. The logic of Arcee's assumption evaded him but it worked in his favor so why prove the Autobot otherwise? Especially if his assignment was of a far more personal nature? Hidden from Arcee another signal was showing on his internal screen and he felt he was getting closer to the source. -"If I could get to the Autobot frequency do you think they would rescue us?" He started casually poking the ground of the cavern floor with his prod.

-"If you mean to ask if they would rescue _You_ alongside with me then Yes, but they would not be happy about it." Disclosing their coded comm line to a Decepticon was very risky and she would do it probably as her last resort – they were not there yet. "However who is to say that you will not share it with your friends on Nemesis?"

Knock Out shrugged - "I do not have an obligation to keep it secret but you can still ask."

-"Would you do it if I asked?"

Knockout made an amused sort of snort but did not give any other answer.

Arcee was irked, she turned around to snap at him only to notice that Knock Out was gone and currently there was a hole in the ground where he used to stand.

-"By the Allspark, the Earth swallowed him whole." She muttered. -"Knockout?!" She yelled into the hole.

This time Knock Out was certain he was on the right track. He had prodded the substrate at the point it had been the weakest but he had not expected for it to give out under him.

He kicked the most offending pieces of stone from his joints and quickly scanned the new area, instead of a cavern this one was a crevice the ceiling of which disappeared high above him. He ploughed through the narrow passage ignoring the sting of scratches on his finish, stepping into some sort of liquid – water. He tentatively tried the water and realized that it was not too deep. He took out his energon prod to help him find a more stable path and made his way across the dark creek towards the lights at the back.

He ignored the eerie green glow emanating from the dots on the ceiling and focused on the faintly glowing container which was now in his sight. Carefully he scanned the container again to be sure. Once he was satisfied with the reading he could start fretting, it was by sheer luck it had prevailed so long in the state it was in. It might have been a trick of light but he could have sworn it brightened slightly when he touched it. -"Got you." He placed the object into his innermost compartment which he had pre-emptively filled with a mix of energon and nourishing fluid used for storing protoforms. He heard Arcees' voice from somewhere behind. She sounded concerned. Good.

Moments passed and Arcee became more unnerved. She was not sure why she felt that way, probably because the medic was an asset to her. -"Arcee!?" She heard the muffled voice from the hole.

-"You online?" She yelled back, internally scoffing for the stupid question, of course he was.

-"Barely, but you should see this."

-"How deep is it?

-"It is a slide but I will catch you!" Not quite trusting the red medic she put her blasters on the ready in case it was a trap and jumped into the hole. It felt like she was ground through rocks and gravel until she emerged through the other side and landed into the expectant arms of Knockout.

-" I wish all autobots were this easy to..mmph."

-"Don't." Arcee had put a hand on his mouth to stop whatever it was that he was about to say and disentangled herself from his hands, shaking any loose gravel out of her joints. She looked around and saw what seemed to be an underground water vein. The ceiling of it stretched above them, covered in green glow worms [1] which reflected in the still water.

It was beautiful, they looked at the illuminated ceiling for a while.

-"It's just like Cybertron at night." Knockout whispered, feeling a pang of homesickness.

-"Do you think you can fix my com. link?" Arcee interrupted suddenly.

Knock Out was so affronted by the sudden change of pace he failed to produce an answer.

-"Can you?"

-"I will have to induce stasis, and I do not have proper tools to do that unless you prefer doing it the old-fashioned way." He was referring to administering a hard blow to the head which effectively put the patients in stasis and occasionally permanently offlined them. "And rummaging through your cerebral circuits in these conditions – almost no light to speak of and all this organic muck - may cause irreversible damage to your cognitive processing." Knockout finished and looked at Arcee's cool expression.

-"So it is a 'No' in short." She felt amused by imagining him saying that in Ratchet's voice because that would have probably been the same line.

-"I have no qualms about cracking open your cerebral helm but I felt it was necessary to explain the likely side-effects associated with it. So in short, that is up to you." Knock Out explained with a tinge of mirth in his voice. "Just tell me when you want to start."

And the insane mech she expected him to be was back. Arcee felt relieved.

-"Then how about you send a distress signal through your com? We do pick up on those unlike Deepticons."

-"I suppose, but I need a certain..." He rubbed his index and thumb finger together while he was mulling over how to put it best. "insurance that you will not blast me to pieces once the ground bridge opens."

-"You have my word."

Knockout rose an optic ridge, that was all he could hope for, but if anything, Autobots were less likely to go back on their word than Decepticons. -"If I am to contact Autobots through the common line we will be spotted by Soundwave. Let me make this clear we, scratch that, I do not want to be spotted by him."

-"Can you send a text message through human channels?"

-"What are the numeric credentials?"

-"4965286"

Knockout kept still with optics narrowed and optic ridges furrowed in concentration while transfiguring deception code into something remotely familiar to human interfaces. This made him deal with binary system which he was not a fan of. [2] It was sooo slow. Soundwave did a much cleaner job of this.

-"All ok?" Arcee hovered near him.

-"Which message do you want to transmit?"

Jack was at work when he received an odd message from an unknown number. _\- Arrzee trapped. Ab. Nomencl. Q T35: 39.5296° N, 119.8138° W; ST- 50m. Send g-bridge. Knockout. [3]_

He rushed to check if the midnight-blue motorbike was parked in her usual place behind the drive-through but it was empty. His shift was ending in 10 minutes but he called Miko to ask if anyone at the base had seen Arcee.

As he had anticipated Miko was hanging out at the Autobot base together with Bulkhead and they had been a little worried about the Arcee as well. Appears that she had been missing for a while and had not been responding to their attempts to contact her. When he forwarded the message to other Autobots their conclusion was that Knock Out had kidnapped Arcee and held her hostage.

-"Not our Arcee?!" Smokeskreen looked disturbed as if part of his perfect world had crumbled. Knock Out was not known to be the strongest or most intimidating mech on the field, it made no sense.

-"He probably did some sort of weird medic mumbo jumbo stuff." Miko interjected which caused a scoff from Ratchet who intoned that whatever Knock Out did was Not what was considered acceptable by any medic standards.

-"What does he want?" Wheeljack butted in.

 _-"Did he ask for a medical kit? This is how we interact with Starscream."_ Bumblebee quipped.

-"No, no demands just coordinates for a ground bridge 50 meters under the surface quadrant _T35_?" Ratchet rumbled while putting in the coordinates to see where exactly that was. -"Aha, the old energon mine!"

-"But why would she sign it 'Knockout'?" Bulkhead had been twitching his leg nervously ever since they started the discussion.

-"It must be a decepticon trap of some sort." Wheeljack sneered.

-"OR they are on a date!" Miko chimed in, "Imagine a romance between star-crossed lovers of opposing factions, never allowed to show their emotions in front of their…Whoa!" Bulkhead lifted the little human before she could finish and before anyone at the meeting had to empty their tanks at the mental image.

-"Either way we have no other lead of finding her.' Optimus finished.

-"But we will be walking right into their trap Optimus!" Ratchet wrung his hands in frustration.

-"Then we will have to come prepared." And that was the end of discussion. They were not Decepticons, they could not afford losing teammates.

Arcee paced nervously while waiting for anything to happen. Knock Out poked at the glow-worms which were located at the lower part of the wall, they were disgusting and mushy but their bio-luminescence fascinated him.

Moments later one of the cave walls rippled as a tell-tale sign of ground bridge about to flash into existence. Knock Out got his prod out just in case, not like he could do much with it against bunch of armed Autobots but he at least had to try.

-"Stand down!" Arcee commanded, though she was not sure if it was to the Decepticon or to her team, as she saw the hulking outline of Optimus emerge from the portal followed by Smokescreen. The smaller bot zeroed in on Knock Out, rifles ready. The red medic lifted his hands tensely, hoping that he was not going to be losing any more parts that day.

-"Arcee, are you unhurt?"

The little mech nodded and quickly explained the general outlines of how she had become trapped and Knock Out's part in this incident. Through their conversation Smokescreen still held Knock Out at gun-point making the medic only slightly twitchy.

-"Lower your gun, Smokescreen." Optimus said politely, that did not sound like an order but the bot complied.

-"Knock Out, I am afraid you are to come with us for time being." The large mech actually sounded apologetic despite their reversed positions of power.

-"Ha, made You squirm." The rookie poked the medic in the chest plates and motioned him to follow them through the ground-bridge. Knockout looked nonplussed -"You know I could have made a choice in favor or rotary blade rather than phase shifter to search you for omega keys on that operating table." [4]

That made the rookie shut up for a while until he came up with a comeback -"I got you stuck in the wall."

Knock Out assessed if it was at all productive to start squabbling before he even exited the ground bridge and decided against it -"That you did."

Howling ghosts – they reappear  
In mountains that are stacked with fear  
But you're a king and I'm a lionheart.  
A lionheart.

"Lionheart"[OMAM]

* * *

Boom-Chaka! No more caves... oh no, wait. Autobot base is technically a cave... nevermind.

A couple of notes:

If we are to go by the fact that Autobots deemed it safe to groundbridge Megatron himself to their jolly little base, then why not Knock Out?

[1] This is a nod to Waitomo Glowworm Caves in New Zealand. Google them, they are awesome.

[2] KO needs to deal with binary system which still is the most common form for human programming. I like to imagine that Cybertronians roll with quantum system. The basic difference is that binary has option of either 1 or 0 whilst quantum system has option of 1 or 0 OR both. You already knew that.

[3] I assumed that KO would probably send a message in his professional lingo and probably misspell Arcee's name in human language.

[4] This actually refers to the series content in TFP, I am currently too lazy to look up the name of the episodes or the seasons but you get the gist.


End file.
